Accelerated Depreciation Revisited—A Reply to Professor Blum

Professor Blum's comment addresses the proper or neutral tax treatment to be accorded three of the items discussed in my recent article on accelerated depreciation - namely, annuities, prepaid expenses, and exhaustible assets. Blum disputes my analysis in all three cases. While Blum's article is eminently readable, I do not believe that it refutes my earlier work to any extent. In this reply to Professor Blum, I will deal separately with each of the three items he examines.

First, however, it is useful to consider the meaning of the term "tax neutrality" and to set forth my views as to the nature and proper function of the neutrality principle.